


Inkopolis Alleys: The Dare

by DatReesezCup



Series: Ink Snakes [1]
Category: Splatoon
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, Original Character Death(s), Rape, Sexual Assault, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2019-04-28 01:12:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14438247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DatReesezCup/pseuds/DatReesezCup
Summary: Jason Shell dares his fellow league member, and best friend, Claire Reveila to go to the bad part of Inkopolis, Inkopolis Alleys, (also known as The Trench) to prove she's not a wimp, as well as buy a banned special for him, so he can do something special with it.When she arrives, it initially isn't as bad as she thought. That is, until she has to stay the night there...(plz excuse my overdramatic summary, I'm terrible at writing)





	1. Dare

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic, so.. ya. Enjoy ya pervs
> 
> At some point I plan to add a mini character sheet with the OC's that are in these fics, so stay tuned for that if you want.

As the two inklings walked through Inkopolis Square, one could hear them arguing, however in a playful, non-serious matter. One inkling was a boy with blue tentacles, covered by a Bobble Hat, the other; a girl with long pink tentacles. To passerby, it looked like they could be a couple argument, however this was not the case.

"It'll be fun V. Besides, you can't say you've lived until you've been to the Trench at least once"

"How 'bout no, Diamondback. I don't feel like visiting the bad part of Inkopolis for quote-unquote, 'the lulz'."

This "Diamondback" being referred to, was a dark blue inkling sporting a blue bobble hat, which he treasured greatly, for they were pure Quick Super Jump. He was the leader of a small league group known as the "Ink Snakes". Really, Diamondback was a nickname. His real name was Jason Shell. A Varsity Jacket and a pair of black trainers completed his outfit.

Likewise, the "V" Jason had previously mentioned was not the other inkling's name. It was short for "Viper" which was the snake-based nickname for Claire Reveila, (Reh-vale-ah) a pretty pink inkling that wore the squid hairclip on her head. She had the default long hair squidgirl look, save for the fact that she had 4 tentacles that were long enough to reach her butt, instead of 2. Whenever Claire walked her tentacles, swayed to the rhythm of her steps, enticing any inkling looking in her direction. This cute inkling wore the B-Ball Jersey (Away) and a pair of pink trainers to complete her outfit.

"How about this then, V?. I'll give you 40,000 coins to go to The Trench, and buy an Inkstrike launch tablet for me. Since we both know that special was outlawed for use in ink battle, I'll know if you truly went to the Trench, seeing as you can still buy defunct specials there."

Jason's dare was pretty serious. The Trench was the bad, _bad_ side of inkopolis. Claire had heard that mugging was all too common an occurrence. The mugging Claire could recover from. It was the fact that often, the thief would splat the victim afterwords is what scared her. 

Normally, this wouldn't be an issue. Every inkling wore a tight, metal band on their wrist known as a Respawn Band. This small computer maintained a constant connection to the nearest Respawn pad, so that if an inkling was splatted, they would automatically respawn. This effect also lasted. An inkling could go up to 2 hours without a connection to a Respawn pad, or not wear the band for 2 hours, and still automatically respawn. Past this 2 hour limit however, a splatted inkling would never respawn. 

Claire knew that her Respawn band would save her as long as a respawn pad was nearby. But Claire had nagging doubts that the Trench would have a respawn pad.

It seemed Jason could sense Claire's uneasiness, as he egged her on, "Or are you a pussy? Huh, is that it? Is Clairesy-waresy awfwaid to go to trenchy-wenchy?"

Claire could feel her cheeks get warm, and wanted Jason to stop. Although Claire seemed like a girl who could be a great leader and would never step down, quite the opposite was true. Claire might've been an outgoing, spunky squid on the outside, but on the inside, Claire was a semi shy, easily toppled squid on the inside. And Jason was on the road to topple her right now. Claire realized that the only way she was going to get Jason to quit was to accept the challenge. 

"Fine, Diamondback. I'll do it tomorrow. Now would you fucking quit?" 

Jason shut up instantly and seemed to glow. He excitedly started speaking. 

"There's the Viper i know and love!" Jason said, as he playfully punched Claire in the shoulder. "Besides, it's a win-win-win situation anyway. You prove your not a chicken, I get a new gadget to tinker with, and you get a inkton of cash! To be honest, the tablet's the main reason i want you to go. I'd get it myself, but last time i went to the special shop down in the trench, i nearly got my ass handed to me over a small dispute. You know I'll make something cool out of the tablet. Just you wait."

He did have a point. When Claire went to Jason's house for the first time for a meeting between the league members, Jason had showed off a Killer Wail that was modified to also serve as a kick-ass speaker, and an Inkzooka that Jason said "was going to blow you away when it was finished. Literally and metaphorically" Claire started to brainstorm what he could possibly make out of the tablet, but quickly ran out of ideas.

Claire was curious now. "What are you gonna make with the tablet? Wouldn't you also want or need the actual Inkstrike to get any use out of anything?"

Jason replied like he anticipated this question. "No. The missile is useless. It's just a box of ink strapped to a rocket. The tablet does all the important bits, and that's why i want it. Plus, the tablet is reusable, it has unlimited uses. The Inkstrike obviously only has one use, seeing as it explodes on impact."

"True, i didn't think of that," replied Claire, realizing she didn't think her question through that well.

"So, tomorrow's it then? Great, I'll meet you here tomorrow at noon, " Jason yelled as he jogged away to Grizzco, presumably to make the money he promised Claire for the dare.

"Ok, see ya" Claire yelled back, while waving bye to him. Once he was out of sight, Claire began to walk back to her apartment before stopping dead in her tracks. She had only one thought.

"Oh my cod. What have i gotten myself into?"


	2. Journey

At last, it was noon. Claire had spent the day testing out some dualies, as she figured they would be much easier to bring to the Trench for self defense, compared to the normal Inkbrush she always used. They weren't actually her dualies, they belonged to another member of the Ink Snakes: "Python," aka Hannah Silvers. Hannah's younger twin sister, Jenna Silvers, was the final member of the Ink Snakes; her nickname was "Cobra." She used dualies like Hannah, however hers were exact replicas of the Hero Dualies the mythical "Agent 4" supposedly carried. 

Claire felt comfortable enough with the dualies that she could defend herself if something happened. Claire was hoping she wouldn't need them though. After all, she was sticking to the main paths in the Trench, and not dealing with anything that might get her killed. She was just going to prove to herself (and Jason) that she could handle the Trench. And get a launch tablet from an Inkstrike too. Jason had lent her 10,000 coins to cover the maximum cost he figured a tablet could be. Unfortunately, she couldn't keep the change.

As Claire walked out of the lobby, she saw Jason sitting at a table, playing on his squidphone. Claire strolled over to him, and sat in the opposite seat from him, placing her dualies on the table.

"Woah, nice. What happened to your brush though?" Jason asked. "You're basically a god with that thing. I've never seen you touch a shooter, let alone a pair of dualies."

Claire replied "Ya, but do you know how hard it would be to lug a full-size inkbrush onto the train and through the Trench to defend myself? Plus, everyone can see I'm carrying a weapon, which probably makes me look either paranoid, or like a troublemaker, both of which make me a target."

"You'll be fine Claire, trust me," Jason assured. 

"Wow, Jason usually never calls me by my real name," Claire thought to herself. "He must really understand how nervous i am."

Jason interrupted her thoughts with directions. "All right, once you get into the Trench, just follow the main street for a few miles, until you reach the center of town. Go right from there, and after walking for a few more miles you should see it split into two main paths. Take the one on the right, and then just keep walking until you see the shop. You'll know it when you see it. It may not sound like a lot, but it sure feels like it when you're in a place like The Trench".

Claire copied Jason's directions into her phone. They sounded simple enough to follow. And Claire already knew how to get to the entrance of The Trench. It was basically a 6 mile journey from one of the train stops. Luckily there were some ink rails near the station that would pass by the Trench, so she didn't have to walk the whole way on foot.

"All right, is that it? Is there anything else you think i should know before I head to the single worst place in Inkopolis to buy a stupid fucking tablet?" Claire asked, in a tone that was laced with both sarcasm and genuine worry.

"Claire. Listen to me. You'll be fine. I know you're nervous. But remember: you're getting an inkload of money from this. And you're not even going to the worst parts of the Trench. Besides if you don't do this, me and the rest of the crew can legally call you a pussy," Jason replied in a similar tone.

"I don't think that's how that works, but okay, " Claire finished, before getting up, and placing her recently-aquired dualies in her belt holster. As she began walking to the train station, she heard Jason give one last "Good Luck," before finally boarding the train.

/*************************/

Finally, after an excruciatingly long train ride, Claire had arrived at the stop closest to The Trench. She didn't think she could actually get sick of the Squid Sister's songs, but after listening to them for hours straight over shitty train speakers, she realized she was wrong. 

As Claire stepped out of the station, she looked around, and realized she had never been to this part of Inkopolis. It was a cityscape, but it was beautiful at the same time. Tall buildings as far as the eye can see, decorated with grass balconies, flowers at every corner, it was just beautiful. To think that the Trench could be bad, Claire couldn't believe it.

"Enough lollygagging" Claire thought to herself. She had something to do. Claire walked down the steps of the train station, and found the inkrail. 

These inkrails were not the normal inkrails. They were specially modified to allow inklings of any ink color to be able to ride it, at the same time. Claire didn't know how it worked, but she was thankful that it existed. The inkrails Claire was used to were much different. Not only was it pay-to-use, and only allowed for one inkling at a time, but it required a DNA sample to be able to make the rail usable for that specific inkling. Either way, having to walk the 6 miles would've killed her legs. 

Claire walked over to the inkrail, and jumped onto it, while entering squid-form. It would still be a lengthy trip, even with the inkrails. The speed one could go on one was only a bit faster than standard ink swimming speed. Of course this could be increased with some Swim Speed Up abilities, but Claire didn't have any equipped, so it would still be slow.

"I wonder what the Trench is gonna be like?" Claire wondered, as she inked along the rail, on the way to her destination


	3. Trench

At last, Claire could see what she believed was the "entrance" to the main drag of The Trench. She hopped off the rail, and as graceful as she could muster, landed face-first on the concrete. At least nobody saw her. Claire couldn't see anyone for that matter. Then again, it was nearly 7:00 pm, so everyone was probably at home, doing whatever it is inklings did here at night. Claire would've loved to come much earlier, but 4:00 pm was the only time the train made a stop at Inkopolis Heights strangely enough.

Claire took in the sights. She couldn't quite tell whether it was better than she anticipated, or worse. It sort of had the Inkopolis Heights feel, but much more degraded. Here, buildings weren't near as high, and the roads had foot traffic instead of car traffic. The atmosphere wasn't near as friendly, and the people didn't look near as nice. Yet, Claire felt she wouldn't hate living here if she had to. Sure, Inkopolis Heights and her apartment near Inkopolis Square were better than this, but damn, this wasn't so bad.

Claire looked at her Respawn band. No signal. "Fucking awesome" Claire thought to herself. According to the little screen on the band, the last time it had been able to contact a respawn pad was one hour ago. So she had about 1 hour of safety before splatting was permanent.

As Claire made her way through the main street of the Trench, she took notice of all the inklings that called the Trench their home. Somehow they all looked like they fit here. Many looked to be doing some kind of drugs, or at least what Claire assumed to be drugs. Claire had never seen an inkling doing drugs, but heard that some sea urchins provide an amazing experience when injected. Claire assumed that's what these inklings were doing

Claire walked for what felt like forever, down the main street, lost in her thoughts. She wondered what daily life was like in the Trench, how her life would be different if she grew up here instead of Inkopolis Square. At last, Claire encountered what appeared to be the main plaza of the Trench. It looked to be a park, if it was ready for Squid-o-ween. All the plants appeared to be dead, and the benches were falling apart. 

Claire continued forth, before a raspy voice startled her. She looked left to the source of the voice, and spotted an inkling with a skull bandana and special forces beret, holding what looked to be a Rapid Blaster. He appeared to also be wearing a leather jacket, and black shoes as well. He was leaning against a building, looking in Claire's direction. Claire could see from the small amount of "hair" sticking out of the beret that the inkling had tentacles.

"What was that?" Claire asked. She hadn't heard the inkling the first time he spoke.

"You need an escort, lady?" the skull inkling repeated. 

"EWW NO" Claire exclaimed in disgust. She's been here less than a day, and already she's getting sexual offers. Or so that's what she thought at first, until she realized what the inkling probably meant, considering he's wearing a skull bandana and is carrying a blaster near the center of the Trench. But before she could say anything, the skull inkling already started talking

"Lady. Wrong kind of escort. If you want THAT kind of escort, I'm sure there's somewhere here you can get your fix. Anyways, I'm a safety escort. Pay me a little fee, and I'll head with you to your destination, and protect you from any fucker who thinks about jumping you."

Claire acted like she was thinking about the offer for a moment, before replying. "Thanks, but no thanks" she said, as she showed the skull inkling her dualies she brought with her. "I think I'll be fine," she continued. At least, she hoped she'd be fine.

The skull inkling scoffed, and began speaking in a matter-of-factly tone. 

"Fine lady, have it your way. But if someone finds you tits-up in a dumpster somewhere, it's your fault."

Claire just ignored the skull inklings last statement, and continued walking along. Claire hoped she wouldn't come to regret declining the skull wearing inklings offer. But things were looking up. Already, the Trench wasn't as bad as she was expecting, so she saw no reason to worry. Then again, if there's an escort offering safe travel, either he's trying to make some quick cash from unsuspecting inklings, or the Trench is worse than it appeared. 

Claire continued her stroll through the Trench, her tentacles swaying from side to side in tune with the sway of her hips, no doubt attracting stares from the nearby inklings. Claire didn't mind; she was used to it. It made her feel wanted.

Claire's legs were getting tired, so she elected to rest for a small bit. Claire went to the nearest building so she could sit against the side of it. After some minutes sitting against the building she got a text from Jason.

"Hey V. Have you made it to the Trench yet?" 

Claire hastily began typing back, and they begun a small conversation.

C: Claire  
J: Jason

C: "Yeah. I have to say, it's not quite as bad as i thought."

J: "See, I told you it would be fine."

J: "So... quick question. Have you made it to the special shop yet?"

C: "no why?"

J: "Well... I may have forgot a small detail. I just remembered as i was thinking about what i could do with the tablet, that the special shop closes at like 6:00 pm."

C: "WHAT"

J: "Sorry."

C: "you're telling me i have to stay here. OVERNIGHT?" 

J: "I'm so sorry. Look, I'll add another 10,000 coins to what we agreed upon before. And I'll give you whatever you have to pay for a hotel when you get back, so you can at least sleep in a bed for the night."

C: "Jason?"

J: "Yeah?" 

C: "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU WHEN I GET BACK!" 

J: "I totally deserve it. Do you at least forgive me?"

Claire thought for a minute.

C: "I guess i do. In all honesty, I'm glad you told me, instead of me walking up to the door and it being locked."

J: "See? I did you a favor"

Claire put her phone away, and sighed loudly. Why couldn't've Jason told her this BEFORE she made it to the Trench. Maybe then she could've spent the night in a nice room in Inkopolis Heights, not this run-down place. Claire was far too deep in the Trench to go back to the inkrails, so heading back to Inkopolis Heights was not an option. Claire thought about heading to the special shop anyway, just to see if Jason was yanking her chain, but decided that Jason wouldn't do something like that. Not here.

Claire finally got up from the building she was sitting against, and looked around. She couldn't see any hotel or motel, and didn't trust herself to be able to find one. "I wonder if that inkling with the skull bandana knows where a hotel is" Claire wondered. She came to the conclusion that he must know the location of at least one hotel. 

Claire retraced her steps back to the plaza of the Trench, and to her relief, the skull-wearing inkling was still there. He was sitting against the same building he was at before, with his head down. He looked to be sleeping, but when Claire approached, he put his head up and looked to Claire.

"Hey. You're back. Need something?" the skull inkling asked.

"Uhm, ya... Could you tell me where the nearest hotel and or motel is, perchance?" Claire questioned.

"Oh ya. Just walk along the street on the right until you get to the intersection with a decrypt fountain on the corner, and turn left. Then just keep walkin'. You can't miss it. It's got a fancy looking neon sign. It's not a pretty place, but they're cheap, and you did ask for the nearest place to crash, not the nicest." the skull inkling answered.

"Oh thank you so much... umm" Claire began, unsure of the skull inklings name.

"Just call me Shroom" the inkling answered.

Knowing the inklings name now, Claire restarted her thanks.

"Thank you so much Shroom! You don't know how much you've helped me. My name is Claire by the way." 

"You're welcome Claire. You take care now" Shroom said, as Claire walked off, towards the hotel Shroom mentioned

Claire elected to run to the hotel, as it was getting late, and she didn't want to get caught in the Trench at the dead of night.


	4. Suffering

From the outside, the hotel looked to be of high quality. A multicolored neon sign decorated the front of the building, proclaiming the name to be "The Crustacean Crashpad." Claire noticed in the window a sign that read "We serve every species, not just crustaceans." That was a relief to Claire, she would've been pissed if Shroom gave her directions to a hotel that didn't serve her kind. 

Claire looked at her Respawn Band. The connection status was urgently flashing red, and Claire was glad she got to the hotel when she did. Flashing red meant that there was only a few minutes before 2 hours of disconnect. Tomorrow, the light of day would hopefully protect her. Claire figured that not every inkling here was coldhearted, and hoped that if something happened, something happened, at least one inkling would come to her aid. After she got the tablet, she would rush back as fast as she could to Inkoplis Heights, where she knew there was a respawn pad ready to save her, should the time arise

Claire stepped into the building, accompanied with a digital bell sound, and saw a shrimp sitting at the counter, his main legs up on the table, watching something on the TV. He had a pair of headphones on, so Claire couldn't hear what was on. He was at least paying attention to the door, as once Claire got near the counter, he took his headphones off and looked to Claire.

Even though he seemed to be a good front desk person, he spoke with the most bored, kill-me tone Claire had ever heard.

"Thanks for coming to the Crustacean Crashpad, would you like a room? It's 1,500 coins per night" the shrimp said to Claire.

"Yes please" Claire replied, putting 1,500 of her coins on the table in front of the shrimp. The shrimp sleazily took the coins, deposited them in the register, and handed Claire a key. 

"You'll be in room 12, third floor, enjoy your stay." the shrimp stated in an even more sleazy tone than before.

"Thank you" Claire replied, but the shrimp had already put his headphones back on, and turned to the TV in front of him.

As Claire headed up the stairs, she heard the digital bell ring again, but she paid no attention to it. She was tired, and she wanted to go to bed. 

Claire opened the door to her room, and instantly felt someone slam into her, shoving her into the room. Claire was off balance, and fell onto the bed that was a few paces from the door.

"HEY WHAT THE F--" Claire began to yell, before her face was shoved down into the bed. Quickly, she tried grabbing for her dualies, but her hands were intercepted, and bound behind her back. She felt her legs held together, being tied together as well, before finally feeling her attacker grab the dualies from her belt holster, and a second later, heard them hit the floor. Her only chance to defend herself, and they were taken from her in less than a second.

"Oh my cod, what's happening" Claire thought to herself. "Please just rob me please just rob me please just rob me"

Suddenly, Claire was forcefully flipped over, and tape put over her mouth. But it also allowed her to see her attacker. It was a light blue inkling boy with his tentacles in a ponytail. He didn't have any headgear, and he wasn't wearing a shirt either? 

Wait, he was shirtless! Why was he shirtless? Claire could've sworn when she first got shoved she saw a blue shirt on the person. Unless...

Claire quickly glanced around the room, while trying to struggle against her attacker. Then she saw it. A blue shirt on a chair, along with a hat Claire didn't recognize. 

Just before it happened, Claire realized what was happening. And she could do nothing to stop it.

Claire watched as her attacker grabbed her jersey, and ripped apart it loudly. He grabbed her bra, and gave it the same treatment as the jersey. Smiling, he got onto the bed, and kneeled on his knees, his legs on either side of Claire's bound-together legs. Seemingly satisfied with the prize that lay before him, he leaned down to play with Claire's tits. His mouth explored every inch of Claire's left breast, flicking the nipple with his toungue, while doing the same by hand to her right nipple. He used his hands to squeeze her breasts as well. 

Claire felt nauseous. She wanted to throw up. She couldn't believe this was happening. Just a few minutes ago, she was strolling though the Trench, feeling relatively safe, considering the Trench hadn't seemed as bad as she had been worrying. And now she was being raped in the hotel room she hadn't even planned on staying in. 

Claire tried screaming, but her cries were met with a fist to the face. Tears began flowing from Claire's eyes, and her vision blurred. Her rapist stopped tasting and fondling her breasts, and was now looking at Claire dead in the eyes. 

"If you try screaming again, I'm going to kill you. Understand?" the skyblue inkling sternly commanded. Claire was in too much pain to answer, and this only promoted her rapist to punch her again.

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?" the inkling yelled into Claire's face, however not loud enough to warrant suspicion from anyone that could be in adjacent rooms. Claire began crying even harder, mustering just enough will to nod in understanding to her rapist's command. He went back to caressing her breasts, carefully licking, sucking, and biting, each nipple. It felt great to Claire; she was shaking and moaning in satisfaction, and she couldn't help it. Why was her body enjoying this? She was scared for her life, yet her body was sending signals of immense gratification. Claire was disgusted.

After several minutes of giving more attention to Claire's breasts than she thought possible, the skyblue inkling leaned up from her chest and got off of Claire's legs. He got off bed, and walked to the end of it. Claire began to feel relieved, before the rapist grabbed the waist of her shorts, and looked at Claire. 

"If you struggle, i will kill you. Got it?" was all he said. Claire nervously hummed yes, hardly able to see her attacker through her tears.

"Good" was all he said in response, and Claire could only watch as the attacker undid the rope around her legs, and pulled her shorts down, until they were off completely. Claire heard the inkling quietly booyah, and toss the shorts aside. Claire was now completely naked, if the hairclip she wore wasn't counted as clothes. 

Claire tried going to her happy place as her attacker inserted his inkzooka into her clam basket, and began thrusting. He started slowly at first, but quickly sped up. Claire's breasts bounced to the motion of his movements, all the while, a look of bliss was plastered across her attackers face. Claire just shut her eyes, and prayed to the Great Zapfish that it would all end soon. 

Claire's prayers were interrupted as her rapist grabbed the tentacles at the side of her head, and pulled them hard. Claire yelped in pain, however it was muffled from the tape across her mouth.  
Tentacles were a sensual spot for inklings, perhaps the most pleasurable. Normally only the closest inkling couples would allow each other to pleasure their tentacles, however her rapist was doing it for his own pleasure, despite the fact that only Claire would feel the effects. He began to lick and lightly bite her tentacles, and Claire was becoming overcome with euphoria, against her wishes. It felt so good, and Claire hated herself for it. 

As Claire was approaching orgasm, she felt her rapist slow his rhythm as well. One last tentacle bite from him sent her over the edge, and she came, releasing her juices while he was still inside her. This seemed to also bring her rapist to orgasm, and that's when she felt it.

The pain.  
The intense, immeasurable pain.

Claire's ink color was pink. Her rapist was sky blue. Her rapist hadn't switched ink colors, and Claire had never had enough concentration during her attack to be able to change ink color. As a result, the ink deposited by her rapist was attacking her from the inside. Claire could only whimper, squirm, and scream as silently as she could, while watching her rapist casually get his clothes back on, through the cascade of tears erupting from her eyes. 

Claire couldn't describe the pain. In normal ink battle, enemy ink hurt a small bit, but was mostly just uncomfortable. However, enemy ink was never supposed to make it inside the body. Now that Claire's clam basket was full of "enemy ink, " it was destroying her internally, causing unspeakable amounts of pain. Claire rolled over onto her stomach, buried her face into the bed, and screamed as loud as she could, not that it would ease the pain. 

Claire continued to scream into the bed, when she felt her rapist start groping her ass. Claire tried kicking her legs, but she didn't hit anything. Suddenly Claire felt herself being flipped over, onto her back, and her rapist was standing to the side the bed. Claire snapped her head away, but her rapist grabbed her chin and forced her head straight, before laying a single kiss on her forehead. Claire rolled onto her side, away from her rapist, and continued crying. "Why me" she thought. "What did i do to deserve this?" Claire couldn't begin to think about it; she was in too much pain. Claire heard a loud noise, and despite her better judgement, rolled over onto her back.

Claire watched through tear-blurred vision as her rapist walked towards the door, carrying her dualies, and blew a kiss to Claire. She never saw the door close, her vision was quickly fading to black, and Claire realized what was happening. She was being splatted. As Claire's life was coming to an end, her only thought was of Jason. Despite their quarrels, Claire secretly had a huge crush on him. No, it was more than a crush. She loved him. She was fairly certain that he might have a huge crush on her as well, given how he acted when it was only the two of them, compared to when their other friends were around. 

Claire had dreamed of marrying him, maybe even having inklings of their own.  
She had already picked out names for the kids they would probably have. She had always wanted to be a mother. When she was little, she had swore off having kids. But once she grew up, she realized that she wanted nothing more. And now she would never get her wish. She would never grow old with Jason, never have kids, never again see happiness.

This monster, this vile inkling, had ripped it all away from her. He took her virginity, and soon, her life, just for some temporary pleasure. Claire never imagined it would end this way. She wanted Jason to be her first time. She also wanted to be Jason's first time, though she knew that couldn't be guaranteed; she didn't know how "active" Jason was, or planned to be.

Claire began to pray one last time to the Great Zapfish, begging for her life, before exploding into a patch of sky blue ink.


	5. Regret

In Inkopolis Square, a large crowd of inklings gathered in front of the large TV looming over the square that would momentarily begin broadcasting the next map rotations for each mode

As the inklings waited, there was a great deal of chatter, before the all-too-familiar chime of the Off the Hook intro tune played, promptly shutting up every inkling at once. Once the intro graphic faded away, Pearl and Marina could be seen in their respective positions, however, they seemed different. They looked more serious, not the usual goofy, fun demeanor they normally displayed during a broadcast. 

"Before we reveal the current maps, we have some sad news," Marina began. The inklings in the square began to worry. What happened? Did Callie go missing again? Did Marie go missing now?

A few inklings began to chatter, before Pearl continued the announcement.

"Unfortunately, a fellow inkling has gone missing, " Pearl started, as the center panel in the studio displayed an image of Claire. "Claire Reveila was last seen at Moray Towers, during Turf War, 2 days ago at 11:50 am. She has not been heard from since. She was last seen wearing the squid hairclip, the B-Ball Jersey, and pink trainers. If you have any information on Claire's whereabouts, please contact Inkopolis police at (448) 483-6283."

After the sad news, the rest of the broadcast wasn't the same. There were no remarks from Pearl, no punchlines from Marina, nothing. They just stated the maps, and moved onto the next. All the inklings in the square shared the sadness as well. Inklings almost never went missing, and even though they might not know Claire, they gloomed like they did. 

For the rest of the day, everything had less happiness to it.

/**********************************/

As the last of the inklings headed back to their residence for the night, Jason sat on a bench overlooking the sea through a chain link fence. He glanced at the timer he had set on his phone. 2 minutes till it completed. Jason looked at his wrist. The usual Respawn Band he wore was absent; he had left it at home. Nearly 2 hours ago, he removed it from his wrist, and headed out to Inkopolis Square, to the bench he was currently sitting at. 

1 minute to go.

Jason reminisced over Claire. He hadn't had a dispute at the special shop like he told Claire. He wanted her to go so he could prepare a surprise for her when she got back. The thing was, he never had quite enough free time normally to prepare; Claire going to the Trench was the only way he would have enough time.  
Claire had said at one point she wanted to visit the Trench, and he knew it would be at least a day, round trip. Just enough time to get everything ready. The tablet just gave Claire a valid reason to go to the Trench. Jason didn't need it though, he already had one. He was going to give one he had to her, which would ask Claire a question:

"Do you want to go to dinner together?"

It was a date. Jason was going to take Claire to the nicest restaurant in town, and propose a serious relationship to her. 

Jason realized from early on from when they created the "Ink Snakes" along with a couple of mutual friends, that he was attracted to Claire. She was so pretty, so caring, so perfect. He wanted to be with her. And Jason couldn't help but feel that perhaps, she felt the same way. Whenever it was just them, Claire seemed to act more shy, more flirtatious, more herself. Jason couldn't be sure, but to him, it seemed like Claire would always be doing things to get his attention. Wearing more revealing clothes, showing him the latest squemes, (squid memes) and telling him to watch her do something stupid, cute, or funny, Claire was always doing something to get Jason to interact with her. And he was more than happy to oblige.

And now she was gone. Because of his incompetency to just ask her on a date face-to-face, she was probably dead. Jason had texted her a bit after telling her about the shop's closing time, to check up on her. Jason had began to worry when Claire didn't reply within a few minutes, she was good about looking at her texts and getting back. After many hours, and dozens of texts, he cried. After a day, he came to the conclusion that she wasn't coming back.

30 seconds

Jason stood up, and walked towards the fence separating Inkopolis from the ocean. He watched the waves reflect the moonlight, and listened to them sing their calming song.

10 seconds

Jason climbed over the fence, and fell onto the small strip pavement on the other side. From then on, there was no protection against falling into the deadly water below.

5...  
4...  
3...  
2...  
1...   
0...

Jason heard his phone go off, signaling that the timer had reached it's end. He stretched his arms outward, leaned forward, and let gravity carry him down to the ocean. Despite the distance between the pavement and the ocean only being a dozen feet at most; to Jason, it felt like an eternity. 

Jason had one final thought as he watched the water come ever closer to him. 

"I love you Claire. I'll be with you soon" 

Jason closed his eyes, and hit the water, quickly struggling, before finally exploding in a cloud of blue smoke, his clothes bobbing on the surface of the water, the pins on his treasured bobble hat reflecting the moonlight.


End file.
